Naively, I asked Paul Blackman for an up-to-date copy of the Samba Survey wish-list. Several hours later, the following list pops up. It is biased because it has my tainted interpretation of some of the entries. Those features I know are in samba are not listed here (the user didn't know it existed, or it's been added since). I was given a list with approx 1300 entries. The _top_ of the list, with 169 requests, is NT domain controller support. Well, there's a big surprise. In amongst this category is NT-unix password syncing, solved by Jeremy's password syncing program (note: there is a Microsoft version of this tool, supplied with NT server for a long, long time). At slot number two is a graphical configuration tool to generate smb.conf files, with 109 requests. A genuine surprise (to me :-) Interesting to note that these two were neck-and-neck up until entries about eighteen months old. Suddenly, the smb.conf GUI requests just tailed off, and the PDC requests just... kept on coming. I bet that either: we added proper pass-thru support at this time, or Microsoft dropped the price of NT server. And, at slot number three, with 56 entries, another surprise: ports of smbfs. Another genuine surprise (for me) is the number of FAX / COMx requests. Anyway, you can all make sense of this yourselves. Have fun. luke
Samba Survey - Wish List. 1300 entries Documentation smb.conf GUI - 109 (X; OpenWindows; HTML; Win32; TCL; Java; curses; perltk) unified and cohesive docs - 20 simplicity of configuration (like NT) - 18 simpler setup (more smb.conf examples) - 12 script-generation of smb.conf files - 6 (make configure-smb.conf) documentation indexing - 5 (.hlp .html) extension to DIAGNOSIS.txt for w95/nt - 3 improved WINS / Browsing documentation - 3 documentation on Microsoft clients - 2 easier printer setup - 2 an nt/w95 install program - 1 smb.conf reading /etc/exports - 1 example login scripts - 1 books on samba - 1 AIX printing examples - 1 better docs of release differences - 1 a HOWTO.pizza document - 1 smbfs - unix SMB client smbfs to be ported/improved/"generic-ed" - 57 (FreeBSD, Amiga, Solaris, AIX, HPUX, SCO, NeXT, IRIX, UnixWare, BSD/OS, SVR4, DEC-Unix, perl5 or other user-mode system) better smbfs documentation - 1 Domain Support / Password Management NT Domain Authentication - 169 support for NT-unix password syncing - 20 a windows samba client (or login system) - 3 support for kerberos 5 - 2 integration with *NIX - 2 Domain Controller for OS2/Warp - 2 SAMBA Domain Authentication - 1 LANMANAGER domain integration - 1 integration with DCE - 1 smbd feature requests Network FAX service - 22 fast file access (small files, opening) - 15 support for COMx - modems (like in os/2) - 13 CR/LF mapping DOS <-> unix - 12 SMB over IPX/SPX - 10 SMB over NetBEUI - 8 MS Mail / Exchange gateway support - 5 better roaming profile support - 5 better and faster file locking. - 4 client support for unix file permissions - 4 Tape drive device access - 3 DFS support - 3 W95 / NT policy support - 2 better OS/2 support - 2 better print support: print accounting - 2 support for logon hours - 2 replace NT SAM database - 1 support for symlinks - 1 less fstat() calls - 1 move samba to kernel space - 1 better logging support (%U in messages) - 1 full CIFS compatibility - 1 better IPC services (like NT) - 1 clean interface to unusual authentication - 1 co-operation between multiple servers - 1 demand-loaded modules (like apache) - 1 decrease memory usage - 1 conditional clauses in smb.conf - 1 unix API - 1 integration with utmp and wtmp files - 1 smbd file attribute requests NT ACL support - 6 storing / mapping DOS file attributes - 2 mapping from Unix groups to NT ACLs - 2 mapping of AFS ACLs to pc permissions - 2 LAN Manager V3 style permissions - 1 OS/2 extended attribute support - 1 nmbd feature requests Improved browsing from explorer - 12 multiple workgroup support (as a DMB) - 6 Improved WINS support - 5 an X-based (really Unix-based) browser - 3 call up a browse list for a workgroup - 1 NT WINS replication in samba - 1 VMS VMS documentation - 1 Full support for VMS (not beta) - 1 replicate OpenVMS SYSUAF <-> NT UAF - 1 smbclient general smbclient improvements - 5 smbclient tar options to actually work - 5 a more ftp-like smbclient - 3 GUI for smbclient (ala FVWM) - 1 smbclient Print Q support - 1 smbclient tar mode to work - 1 improved smbclient printing services - 1 Commercial Aspects commercial support - 2 a large price tag - 1 samba to be advertised more - 1 Odd / other / utilities / lots of work needed / non-samba stuff integrated dhcp support (samba, DNS) - 10 allow network management from a client - 8 NT-like remote admin of samba servers - 7 remote boot of w95 clients - 4 xload-like display of smbstatus info - 4 better backup features - 4 integration with amanda (for pc backup) - 3 launching windows applications from unix - 3 win & unix speed-tweaking programs - 3 easier printing capabilities - 2 NT-style registry database - 2 SCO binaries (doesn't have a compiler) - 2 better debug logging (like tcpdump) - 2 integration of dhcp / dns / wins - 2 better dialup support - 2 load balancing with multiple servers - 2 software auditing and licensing - 2 support for NT's PRINT$ driver system - 2 desktop access in IRIX, NeXT and Caldera - 1 Print Accounting - 1 cpu loading indicators - 1 the kitchen sink - 1 a pc backup program -> SMB shares - 1 ability to change user rights in a share - 1 extra small client for DOS - 1 smblib for amiga - 1 Linux/Samba integration - 1 Commercial release _with support_ - 1 integration with Tivoli - 1 ability to compile with sunos 4.1.4 - 1 improved handling of several clients - 1 NBDD support - 1 database server - 1 RAS server - 1 simplicity and stability - 1 cleaning up the code - 1 automounter integration - 1 integration with WinDD - 1 integration with WinFrame - 1 centralised samba administration - 1 support for frequent msvc++ file stating - 1 support for NTrigue - 1 add a smb share adds an NFS export too - 1 Support for other file systems integration with apple file sharing - 5 integration with Novell Server - 4 integration with netatalk - 2 smblib separate NetBIOS and SMB libraries - 2 Good Wish-Quotes: "a large price tag, so that droids will use [samba]" "if samba could replace NT server, I would rip up every damn NT machine i've installed at client sites." "i will let you know once i've finished reading the documentation!" "features to automatically send pizza vouchers to andrew" "A credit card facility for paying up the pizza" "[i recommend turning] a good technical writer loose on the documentation" "speed, more speed" * 2 "Better DOS clients :^)" "Everything you would like to add..." "The ability to easily attract fantastic women" "Installation help with training wheels for non programmer types" "Documentation for Non-Starfleet Academy Graduates" "Ability to wipe the disks of any windows 95 clients who connect :-)" "Toast-making device" "Garage door-opener" "Coffee maker" * 3 "Theme from 'Annie, get your gun' playing in the background" "Anything that would help further the idea of a Linux/Samba combination as a threat to commercial server OS's" "Jump through fire rings" "Sex, Drugs and Rock-n-Roll!" "An option to blow up Microsoft and Novell :-)" "Microsoft clients that don't crash" "Someone to call when it doesn't work! :-)" "I kinda like basic packages that work well. Try not to add too many features" "The only issue of significance for the future appears to be ensuring that SAMBA works as Microsoft destroys security under new revisions of Windows NT" "Microsoft to provide smb.conf support for NT" Luke's favourite quote: "Full Windows NT replacement. Evolving support Microsoft additions to the SMB protocol. Cooperation contacts with Microsoft teams to help them debug and fix their protocols in a stable way. Contacts with X/Open members."
ictinus@lake.canberra.edu.au
samba@samba.org